


Cave at the End of the World

by lies_d



Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: M/M, Post Episode 9
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-05-16
Updated: 2019-04-28
Packaged: 2019-05-07 22:16:36
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,991
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14680574
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lies_d/pseuds/lies_d
Summary: Defeated. Captured. Put on trial. At the end of the day, after all the battles are over, Kylo Ren and General Armitage Hux are imprisoned with no hope of escape. Will they find a way to tolerate being trapped together in the same cell, or will they set out to destroy one another?





	1. Chapter 1

The cell door closed.

Kylo Ren rubbed his wrists, recently free of their manacles. He looked over to Hux, standing stock-still, his hands clenched at his sides.

Hux met his eyes and looked away. Kylo saw fear twisting his features, almost comically exaggerated now that they were alone. Everything he had been holding back during the long trial and during the judicial panel's sentence.

Kylo tugged at the collar around his neck. So ironic that the new Alliance chose to use a Sith invention, one that could suppress his connection to the Force. He couldn't sense anything outside his own body, not air around his skin or the floors beneath his feet.

But he could sense Hux. Perhaps it was the long years they'd spent as enemies, or the brief time they'd spent as allies, but for whatever reason Kylo could still read Hux like a holo-briefing.

Failure, it weighed heavily on them both. And the aftermath had been a hard series of blows to Hux. He hated being judged and dressed down, in front of the entire galaxy no less. Sedition. Treason. Mass murder. Genocide. He had been wrong, so very wrong. So said the universe.

Hux scratched the skin of his left hand with his right. He scratched even though the skin was raw and bleeding. Clearly to Kylo, the former General was on the verge of completely unravelling.

Familiar contempt rose in his throat like bile and for a moment Kylo considered killing Hux here and now. He didn't need the Force to beat the life out of him. It would feel good to unleash his despair and rage through such an act of brutal destruction. But after letting the fantasy play out in his head, Kylo dismissed the urge. That was, he suspected, exactly what their jailers wanted him to do. They knew killing Hux would only be to his own detriment. He wouldn't give them the satisfaction.

Trying to ignore Hux, Kylo walked the length of their cell, taking stock of the place in which they would be trapped for the rest of their lives.

The walls, floors, and ceilings were made of dura-steel, coloured a neutral shade of grey. The air smelled antiseptic. Two beds. Two chairs. One table. A screen to the side of the room to mimic a window, darkened now with a night time sky. A toilet and grooming station in one corner, with a half-wall for scant privacy.

A sudden swell of rage overtook Kylo. He lifted one of the chairs over his head and hurled it towards the wall. After making a dent in the durasteel, it struck the headboard of one of the beds.  

Hux flinched and froze, but relaxed somewhat when he realized that Kylo's anger wasn't directed at him.

Clenching his fists, Kylo took in deep breaths. His lack of control over himself had been his undoing, and now... it didn't feel satisfying anymore to give into his emotions. For whatever it was worth now. He wanted to be his own master.

"I'm going to bed," he announced. "That one." Choosing the one that hadn't been struck, Kylo sat down to meditate before sleeping.

Hux dithered at the grooming station while the lights slowly dimmed to night dark. Kylo tried to ignore him. He wondered how long that would be possible. How long before he gave in to his annoyance and dislike and simply killed the man? It would be a test of his newfound desire to control his own urges.

From the fear Kylo sensed, Hux knew it.

~~~

Kylo woke up to the soft sound of movement. Without the Force, he felt blind to what it was. He opened his eyes.

Hux stood over him, arms raised, some kind of edged weapon in his hands. He brought it down over Kylo's throat, but Kylo dodged. Hux pulled away and tried to stab him again.

Catching Hux's wrists, Kylo squeezed until Hux let go of the weapon: just a tooth groomer with one edge sharpened. Only lethal if he had succeeded in ramming it into Kylo's ear, or his throat.

Still gripping Hux's wrists, Kylo swung his legs out of bed and stood up. Hux's face, in the blue-tinged night dark, was a mask of fear.

Kylo did something he had wanted to do since they had first met. He punched Hux in the face. He punched him again, and then again. He kicked his legs out from under him. He kicked him in the stomach so he couldn't breath.

Dragging Hux over to the narrow table, he hauled him up onto it, until his head hung over the other side.

He could break Hux's neck easily. Or break his back. Or break any number of limbs. Leaning over Hux, Kylo tightened his grip on Hux's collar and looked him in the eye.

"I could kill you. Any time or any way that I wanted. You know that," Kylo spoke the truth in Hux's eyes. "But I'm going to tell you now that I _won't._ "

Hux swallowed, his eyes wide. Kylo let him go and took a step back. He gave Hux the space to stand up, double over, rubbing his neck and coughing.

"Solitary confinement. Do you know what it's like?" Kylo asked him.

Hux took a few moments to compose himself. "You're alone."

"You go insane. It was one of the things my mother tried to change about the prison system. It's no good to be alone."

"Then it's too bad she died," replied Hux.

Kylo punched him again. Kicking his legs out from under Hux, Kylo kneeled over him. He raised one fist raised, aiming for the killing blow. All that stopped him was the memory of his mother's words, now so fresh in his mind he could almost hear her.

_It's no good to be alone._

And she'd been right about most things, hadn't she?

"Do you _want_ to die?" Kylo asked Hux.

Hux hesitated, and there Kylo could see that at least one part of him didn't know the answer to that. One part of him did want to die.

Then Hux's face split into a grin and he started _laughing_. Kylo lowered his fist, on the verge of being truly disturbed. Kylo lost control of his emotions all the time, but he'd never seen Hux fall apart like this.

When Hux's laughter died down, he looked dazedly around the room. Kylo wondered if he'd punched him too hard.

"I have to admit," Hux said, his Arkanian accent as stiff and grating as ever, "I'm not looking forward to spending the rest of my life here."

"What's so bad about this place?" Kylo was only half-joking, but Hux, it seemed, had spent what little mirth he was capable of feeling, and didn't laugh.

"This room," Kylo continued, serious now. "Four walls, food, exercise in the yard." They would be granted every civility, their lawyers had assured them. "Maybe we'll never leave. As far as we're concerned, it's a cave at the end of the world." Kylo struggled to think of a way to explain what he meant by this. "Nothing outside matters anymore." Seeing Hux's brow furrowing, Kylo realized that he was trying to comfort him. Of course it was difficult.

"Hux. You don't have to be afraid anymore." _Fear._ Fear and anger had always been at the heart of Hux. Kylo realized now, part of why he had hated him. Hux's fear and anger were an uncomfortable mirror of his own.

"You don't have to be afraid of failure. Humiliation. Pain. You can rest." Word amongst the officers of the Finalizer said that Hux survived on three hours of sleep per cycle, and those stims that made his fingers twitch. Now he could sleep through the night and half the day, if he wanted.

Kylo stood up. He found the makeshift blade Hux had fashioned. "You don't have to be afraid of me," he said as he gave it back. "If either of us kills the other, they'll have an excuse to leave the survivor in solitary confinement. I don't want that, and I don't think you do either. So we have to find a way to live together."

Hux took the weapon. With a grimace, he wiped blood from under his nose with the back of his hand.

"Is there anything I can do to make this easier for you?" Kylo offered. It was the kindest thing he'd ever said to Hux, or to anyone, in a very long time.

Hux stood up. He straightened his shirt. The scowl on his face remained as deep as ever, despite Kylo's attempts at reassurance.

Without warning, Hux punched Kylo in the face. Hard.

"Don't you ever! Lay hands on me again!!"

Kylo field of vision went red. He had a image of strangling Hux to death, one so vivid that for a moment he wasn't sure if it were real or not. He remembered to breath. He looked up at Hux, at the rage twisting his figures beyond ugliness.

The urge to destroy rose in him like a wave. The same one he had felt before slaughtering his fellow Jedi students. But he realized now what he didn't know then. What he really wanted to destroy was himself. By strangling Hux, he would almost certainly be strangling his own future. Madness and death would follow.

He could do it. The choice lay before him. What would he really be living for anyways? Hux was right. This room, this place, all this time with someone so... the mildest word Kylo could think of to describe Hux was _unpleasant_.

Kylo closed his eyes. Focused on his breathing while the wave crashed inside him, then receded.

 _No._ He could kill Hux. He could end himself. But not now. It wasn't time yet.

"Okay. I can do that." Kylo finally replied.

~~~


	2. Chapter 2

Kylo dreamed.

In his dream, he could smell fresh sea air. He could hear the ebb and flow of water over sand.

He was looking down at his own feet. The water that flowed back and forth over his bare skin had a strange green tinge.

He felt the touch of a hand on his shoulder, and he looked over.

The man standing next to him was both exactly like Hux and nothing like him at all. His beard was unkempt and streaked with grey. His eyes were as green as the water. Behind him, Kylo could see a grey rock wall. They were standing at the mouth of a cave on the shore.

Hux pointed out, towards the light and the water. The hair on the back of Kylo's arms stood up. He knew that as soon as he turned his head and followed Hux's line of sight, his old life would be over and a new life would begin.

Though his fear threatened to freeze him completely, he felt such great relief that Hux was there with him.

Kylo looked out towards his destiny.

~~~

A sense of urgency roused Kylo from his sleep. He sat up in his bed. Closing his eyes, he tried to recapture as much of his dream as possible. Most of it remained clear. The only thing he couldn't remember was what he'd seen in the end.

What did the light have in store for him? What was his destiny?

Both the Jedi and the Sith held great stock in the dreams, so Kylo resolved to meditate on it later. He wished he could get some more sleep, but the air in their cell had taken on a chill that brought his mind into sharp focus. He opened his eyes. Though the mattress beneath him was warm, his breath came out in a cloud.

The artificial window showed a pale morning sky. Just as Kylo wondered what time it was, a soft chime rang out and the lights in the cell began to slowly undim. Just beside the table, a panel on the wall lifted up to reveal two trays of food waiting for them in an alcove. Apparently it was breakfast time.

Curled in his bed, blanket wrapped tight, Hux didn't wake.

After putting his feet into the soft-soled slippers that would be part of his daily uniform now, Kylo padded over to the table. The floor was icy cold. As he sat down, Kylo heard the distant hum of air circulating behind one of the vents near the floor, where warm air began to emerge.

So, he gathered that it became cold here at night. The knowledge of their prison's location had been kept a secret, even from them. They'd both been sedated for their transport, so Kylo didn't even know if they were adrift in space or planet side. A cyclical cold cycle suggested the latter, but it could easily be manufactured. Not that it much mattered, in any case.

Kylo pulled one of the trays onto the table. It contained a metal spoon and a bowl of white mush, nothing more, nothing less. Sufficiently nutritious, to be sure, but completely lacking in taste. At least it was warm.

"Your breakfast is getting cold," Kylo said towards Hux, trying to be considerate.

Hux opened his eyes. He sat up and looked around blearily, as though he didn't quite remember where he was. When his eyes settled on Kylo, their situation finally seemed to come back to him.

Hux already had his slippers on - apparently he'd slept in them. With his blanket still wrapped around his shoulders like a cloak, he went to the table and sat down. The bruises under his eyes stood out starkly against ashen skin. Kylo felt a twinge of guilt for causing them, though it seemed ludicrous that he could feel guilt for such a minor crime, after all he'd done.

They ate together, for what Kylo realized would be the first of many such occasions.

Hux's spoon rose and fell with the metronome pace of a droid. He ate quickly, as though he were afraid someone would take away his food, or that his alotted eating time would run out. Kylo knew enough about life in the ranks of the First Order to know that this was not an unlikely event, at least earlier in Hux's career. Somehow seeing Hux eat made him seem more human in Kylo's mind.

Kylo took one of the datapads from its slot on the wall. This, he'd been instructed, would be his lifeline to the world outside their cell. With it, he would receive news and notices from the prison's administration, and messages from his team of legal representatives. Mostly it would provide information about the points and demerits system that would determine the daily substance of their lives from now on.

Today the first thing on display was a menu. It listed all of the appetizing items he could be eating for breakfast, once he had the points to order them.

"What kind of food did you eat on Arkanis?" Kylo asked Hux, because he was genuinely curious, and also because he wanted to break what he thought was becoming an uncomfortable silence.

 Hux stopped eating. Without looking up from his food, he said, "You asked what you could do to make this easier. Well. Don't talk to me. Don't even look at me."

Pushing past the impulse to lash out at Hux for his insolence, Kylo was only too happy to oblige. Though the temperature in their cell gradually became higher, there remained a chill between them.

They finished eating. They showered in turns. Within an hour, their door opened to a long corridor that led into an exercise yard. After the months of confinement during his trial, the yard seemed impossibly large. To gauge its size, Kylo ran the length across, which took a full two minutes.

The high ceilings were dominated by bright white skylights. The stillness of the air confirmed that they were indoors. Somewhat eerily, they were alone, save the squat droid who informed them of what equipment they could use once they earned the necessary points. Kylo felt satisfied running laps, feeling the muscles in his legs propelling him forward, lungs working and blood pumping. After some bends and joyless-looking calisthenics, Hux ran as well, at the opposite end of the yard from Kylo. With Kylo's gait being slightly longer, they circled the room like two planets in orbit of the same sun, opposite but aligned, destined to collide, but not today.

Once back in their cell for the midday meal, Kylo consulted his datapad: what did he need to do to earn the points to buy appetizing food and more interesting diversions? There were daily conformities - washing, dressing, putting his dishes back in his tray, which earned points at an excruciatingly slow pace. The bulk of their points could only be earned by learning one of the prime Hosnian languages. More could be learned by becoming familiar with Hosnian music and visual art. Although access to news from the outside world would be possible, for now it could only be attained through immersion in the culture he had helped to destroy.

Kylo barked a laugh. Their punishment was poetic. It was terrible. It was at once laughably easy, and possibly corrosive to their souls.

Kylo opened the language application. After inserting the removeable earset, he picked a Hosnian dialect at random and set about learning a few words. The program was structured to teach the language in the order that a child would learn it. The first word to learn was 'mother.' And after that, 'father.' The words burned on his tongue. A cleansing fire.

Kylo noticed that Hux ignored his datapad all day. He kept his arms crossed, looking away. To Kylo, he seemed ill, like a plant in desperate need of water. Kylo didn't know how to help him, though strangely, he wished he could.

~~~

Hux paced in the middle of the night. Though not normally a light sleeper, Kylo woke up to the sound of Hux rubbing his hands over his arms.

"Go to sleep, Hux."

Hux stopped. "It's too bloody cold," he said through gritted teeth.

"The beds are warm enough," Kylo told him. He realized that his thin mattress must have a heating function. Otherwise, the air in the room was frigid.

"The beds are _warm?!_ What are you talking about?" Hux said.

After wrapping his blanket around himself, Kylo stalked over to Hux's bed. While the icy floor stole warmth from the soles of his feet, he pressed his fingers to the control panel at the head of Hux's bed. It remained dark, no matter what he tried. Guilt flooded him when he noticed that the panel had a significant dent.

Their first day, within the first minute of stepping into the room, Kylo had thrown a chair in a fit of rage. He'd damaged Hux's bed.

"Sleep in my bed," Kylo told Hux. "It's warm. There's a heating function."

Though shivering with cold and weariness, Hux hesitated.

"I don't want to sleep in your bed," said Hux. To Kylo, it almost sounded like he was afraid.

"Just _sleep_! It's warm and you need sleep!" Kylo snapped. "I said I'm not going to hurt you, remember? If that's what you're worried about."

Still, Hux hesitated. Kylo felt ready to leave him out to freeze in the dark, when finally, Hux bent to touch the mattress of Kylo's bed. Finding it warm, Hux muttered dark obscenities to himself as he lay down to rest. By the sound of his breathing, he fell asleep in less than a minute.

Kylo shifted awkwardly, unsure of what to do next, while his feet grew numb from the cold. He didn't want to lie down in Hux's bed, enduring what would no doubt be a sleepless night. He wasn't sure why he'd instinctively told Hux to sleep in his own. He hadn't shared a bed with anyone since he was a padawan in his uncle's academy, during the storm seasons. But now it seemed like the only sensible option. It wasn't like anything they did here mattered. Nothing was of consequence for him anymore. So he reasoned.

Hux slept facing the wall. Kylo lay down behind him, arranging his blanket over them both so they could share the heat.

Hux went rigid at the slight contact between them. His breathing became quick and erratic.

"Only for tonight," said Kylo. "We'll get them to fix it tomorrow."

Though it took awhile, Hux slowly relaxed and fell asleep again.

The night was colder than he would have thought possible. As Kylo drifted back to sleep, he felt a strange comfort in the warmth of Hux's body against his, the sound of his breathing and the smell of his hair. Here in this place, all they had was each other, and for this small stretch of time, that was enough.


	3. Chapter 3

The sound of water caressing sand. The smell of salt. Eyes as green as life itself.

The future, waiting for him.

Kylo woke up slowly, the strange comfort of his dream melting into reality. He'd had the same dream many times now. He felt sure it was a vision, but he still didn't know what it meant.

Hux lay sleeping on top of him. Sometime during the night, seeking each other's warmth, they'd melted up bonelessly against each other. With one arm resting on his chest and one leg slung over his thigh, Hux was physically closer to him than anyone had been in years. Kylo thought such intimacy should disturb him, when in fact it did the opposite. It felt good, all the places where their bodies aligned. Hux's face, so close now, was relaxed in slumber, and without all the masks he used during the day, the cold veneer of control, the anger, the contempt, he seemed like a different person. Innocent, despite everything he'd done, despite every crime they'd committed together.

Hux's breath quickened and Kylo sensed that he would wake soon. He closed his eyes to give Hux some modicum of privacy for his own reaction to their situation.  

Upon waking, Hux almost fell off the bed in his haste to push himself away. Kylo felt the loss of his warmth keenly, despite the fact that the vents had already started their morning task of sapping the chill from the air. He took a few moments to calm the anger that flared up inside of him.

When Kylo opened his eyes and sat up, Hux was across the room, seated at their table with his back to Kylo.

"This is a message for the prison custodian. One of our sleeping units has been damaged. Repair is needed. Immediately. End message."

But when Kylo finally arose, Hux would barely look at him. They ate their breakfast in silence, and their day was spent the same way as the last. New clothes were provided, and they were let to run in and empty yard. Kylo took lessons in the Hosnian language, while Hux continued to abstain.

No repair droids arrived by artificial nightfall.

"We'll sleep here until they fix it. It's fine," said Kylo.

Hux didn't join him until the air grew icy cold. Kylo put his arm around Hux, noting the comfort they both felt when his shivering stopped.

Kylo wondered why he wasn't disappointed. He guessed that this should have been an exercise in humiliation, but somehow he wasn't bothered. He felt calm, with Hux sleeping beside him. A kind of animal contentment. He couldn't understand it, but he tried not to question it too deeply. In this curtailed version of life he'd been given, he would take what he could get.

~~~

Days passed. Kylo didn't bother counting them. He slept, he ate, he exercised and washed himself. He learned new words for words he already knew. He meditated. He dreamed.

A realization struck him eventually. The reason why this place felt so strange and otherworldly, like a reverie that he felt no urgency resisting. It was a grey place. Neutral grey. Not only in colour, but in spirit as well. He could do very little harm here, save the harm he did to himself. Neither could he do any good. It felt like an in-between place.

For his entire life, Kylo had been obsessed with either the light or the dark. Resistance, seduction, denial, embracement, and doubt had consumed him in turns. For as long as  he could remember feeling the Force, Kylo had known torture and confusion about where he belonged in it.

Now, at long last, he felt he belonged. There were no choices left anymore. This was where his life had brought him.

The only spot of colour left in this life was Hux.

Hux, who took to sleeping late every day. Who glowered through most waking moments. Whose sarcastic comments peppered Kylo's days. Hux, whose smell reminded Kylo that he was alive.

The nights were so cold, they melted together indiscriminately, torsos pressed, arms and legs crossed. All of Hux's complaints about his damaged bed went unanswered, and eventually Kylo realized how grateful he was for that.

~~~

One morning, they woke up hard against each other. The steady glow of desire made Kylo feel warmer than he'd ever been. His life outside of this place had not prepared him for this. The only emotions that had ever burned so brightly were hated and fear, and lust for violence.

This was lust of a different kind. He could sense Hux's body, just as clearly as if he could still sense the Force. He could smell his hair, feel his skin. He felt the weight of Hux's limbs, draped against him. He felt his answering hardness, pressed against Kylo's midsection.

By the time the heaters came to life, Kylo could tell that Hux was awake. He watched him, pretending to be asleep with his head on Kylo's shoulder. He wondered what it would be like if Hux awoke and looked up at Kylo. Then, miracle of the Force, Hux did just that.

For all of the time that Kylo had known him, Hux had worn a mask. He wore it for his fellow officers and for his underlings in the First Order. He wore it for the entire galaxy when he had been on trial. He wore it for Kylo too. For all Kylo knew, he wore it all the time.

But for one raw moment, Kylo saw his face. It felt more familiar to Kylo than his own. It reminded him of the man he'd seen in his dream, with the clear green eyes. There was fear and vulnerability, but calm and resilience as well. He'd seen those eyes sparkle with joy, he'd seen them burn with lust. But maybe that had been just a dream too.

The mask came on. Hux looked away, pushed himself up, and went straight to the shower.

Kylo turned away to give Hux more privacy, trying not to think about the water running down his naked body while he waited for his arousal to abate. He wasn't used to this kind of desire. Jedi training seemed to naturally constrain such urges. All of his life had been spent training his body to listen to the Force, but now his body sang a song all its own. He wanted to touch Hux in ways he'd never touched anyone before. He'd observed this feeling in other people before, and it had always seemed from the outside to be such a base urge, so animal and pathetic. Now he understood the meaning of primal, the meaning of want. It was difficult to hold himself away.

Although they were trapped in the same room together, Hux did his best to avoid him that day. He sat on his own bed, arms crossed, wrapped in silence.

When Hux wouldn't come to the table to eat breakfast, Kylo thought it was a fit of pique. When he wouldn't go near even for lunch, Kylo became worried. Hux looked brittle, moreso than he'd ever been on his worst days in court. His eyes seemed very far away. Again, Kylo was struck with a need to help him, more urgent now than ever before, but he still didn't know how.

Kylo stared at Hux, straight in the face, in a way he knew would be impossible to ignore. When Hux finally raised his eyes to look back, Kylo hesitated. It seemed especially important not to say the wrong thing.

"Please eat," he finally said.

The hollow look on Hux's face didn't waver. 

"I'm sick of that mush," replied Hux.

"I'll order something else for you." Kylo had enough points saved up for a few small luxuries.

Hux's expression suddenly became icy. He clenched his jaw so hard that one of his muscles twitched.

Kylo knew that had been the wrong thing to say.

"I won't be bought with cheap favours."

Kylo's thoughts sputtered. That hadn't been his intent at all! Before he could argue or try to backtrack, the doors of their cell hissed open - it was recreation hour.

Fastidiously avoiding Kylo's gaze, Hux stood up and walked out towards the exercise yard.

After considering whether Hux might want to be alone, on pure instinct, Kylo decided to join him. It felt as though their daily routine had been broken, but surely movement of any kind would help them both.

Today Hux didn't run. He walked away, stiffly, as though from an animal he was afraid would chase him.

Kylo let Hux have the yard. Instead of running, he loitered near the entrance, and finally settled on ordering a set of grav-weights from the kiosk. He knew that his body needed exercise lest it atrophy. After wrapping the weights around his wrists, he set the load strength and began to perform a series of movements designed to stretch and tone his muscles.

Even while he exercised, Kylo kept both eyes on Hux. It felt important today. Something was happening, or was about to happen. Maybe it had happened already. Kylo didn't need the Force to sense a change in the air. Hux was disturbed, maybe dangerously so.

Then he felt it in his feet. _Impact._ In a few seconds, there was another. Instantly, he knew they weren't planetbound. This was a ship or a station in orbit.

Memories came, painful, unbidden, but quite possibly crucial: _It's just a few chunks of asteroid, son. This old bird, her shields are tough._

Apparently their prison was in space, and apparently they'd just been struck by an asteroid. Surely, with living beings aboard, there would be shields. Unless the living cargo wasn't worth the price of upkeep or repairs. Unless the people aboard were reviled, and better off dead.

Kylo heard a whistling noise. He ran towards Hux, at the end of the yard. Tore off his grav-weights along the way.

"Hux! Get back!"

Hux didn't move. He stood staring at the wall. There, high above, near the ceiling, was a rend. Metal and circuits torn jaggedly. Air rushing out. Vacuum creeping in.

Hux took a step towards the expanding void.

When Kylo reached Hux, he slung an arm around his chest and dragged him backwards. Turned him bodily around so he could pull him away by his arm. Alarms finally began to sound, lazily, as if in afterthought.

Halfway across the yard, Hux slumped down to his knees. As weak as he was without the Force, Kylo knew he couldn't carry him to safety. The knowledge descended on Kylo like a weight.

Kylo knelt down in front of Hux. He'd never felt as powerless as he had in that moment. The whistling got louder. Kylo gripped Hux's shoulders and leaned forward to speak.

"I can't stop you from killing yourself. If this is how you want it to end, I'll stay here with you. You won't be alone."

The vacuum wind whistled into one ear, while a pit of doom whistled into the other. He could hear it clearly: a long death, alone and insane, in a sterile grey room. A pit of utter despair. Dying now, with his nose buried in Hux's red hair, was a much better fate.

"Hux. Armitage." Kylo spoke his given name for the first time. "I need you."

Hux finally looked over to meet his eyes.

Kylo saw his despair. He saw a fierce desperation to live. He saw one of them win.

Hux put his hand on Kylo's shoulder and used it to push himself up. Kylo stood and followed him towards the door of their cell. At first they walked, but more claxons rang, and shields began to raise, ever closer to them. They ran.

They reached their cell a few seconds before the shields raised at their door. Everything outside - the service droid and the grav weights Kylo had just purchased - went tumbling into the vacuum.

Still breathless from his sprint and the death they'd both narrowly avoided,  Kylo leaned over, resting hands over his knees.

Hux stared out into the void. When the durasteel doors of their cell finally closed, his posture wavered, though whether the slump in his shoulders was from disappointment or relief, Kylo couldn't tell.

Kylo knew he couldn't let Hux wallow in despair any longer, for both of their sakes. He took Hux's arm and pulled him close.

"I had a vision," Kylo said into Hux's ear, for fear of the monitors. "We were far away from here. There was sunshine and water."

Anything that could be construed as a discussion of escape was punishable by separation, but it seemed their monitors' attention was occupied elsewhere.

The lights dimmed to red and began to fade to and from black. The claxons outside still rang.

Hux's attention didn't waver from Kylo, who knew he'd chosen his words well.

"You were older. You had a beard, shot with grey. You were  happy."

Kylo wasn't sure why he was so sure of this, though he'd had the same dream several times now. There had been something unmistakeable there, on Hux's face, in the lines at his eyes and his mouth. Kylo was telling the truth, to the best of his knowledge, because he knew how much power the truth could have.

"Stay with me. We'll get there, I promise."

The lights undimmed and the claxons stopped. Hux's posture, if anything, drooped even further, as though he were disappointed. Kylo understood the feeling.

Something of import had happened, but for some moments, after the alarms stopped, in the silence, it felt like nothing had changed. That feeling – that nothing would ever change – felt truly terrible. Like stagnation. Living death.

Food arrived as usual, and they both ate. The lights dimmed on time.

But that night, something changed after all.

Their blood still hadn't calmed, from brushing so close to destruction. They were both so hard that they couldn't hide it. Hux took Kylo's hand and guided him.

"Take it off. That too."

Kylo let Hux order him, wondering again at how much it pleased him to take orders. The truly powerful Jedi that he'd known seemed to crave control. His former master. His uncle. Even Rey. Didn't they understand how powerful it could be to _listen?_

"There. Right there."

There wasn't a thread of clothing between them. Hux's skin felt like an unexplored sea. His hair smelled like a new home. He took Kylo's hardness between his thighs and let him rut. The sounds they made were as old as the thrum of life itself. The racing heartbeats, the staccato breaths.

They'd witnessed death and now Kylo was more alive than he'd ever been. Hux spent his seed in Kylo's hand and Kylo felt the spill of climax between Hux's legs.

Once he'd calmed his ragged breath, Kylo thought they might sleep, but Hux would tolerate no such mess. He dragged him to the shower, and under the warm water they found their pleasure again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry folks, writing has been slow these days, but I am determined to finish this one.

**Author's Note:**

> This story has been percolating for awhile. Just putting it out there to see if anyone likes it. 
> 
> Later chapters will be rated Mature.


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